Dovetail question

[Ralph Barhorst]

Assume that you have to make two identical drawers with the sides dovetailed into the fronts. That means that you have to make dovetails on four side panels.

Is it better or easier to stack and clamp all four boards together, scribe them and then cut the tails? Or should you just do them one at a time?

It seems that almost all dovetails that I see on this site and others are cut one at a time.

[Marcus Ward]

I always stack tails when making drawers, saves a load of time. When doing really crazy small pins though you have to cut the pins first or there's no way to scribe them. Normal dovetails though I go tails first. Cutting them all at once is no sin!

[Sam Yerardi]

Stack them

[Dave Anderson NH]

As the others have said, stack them. It also has the added benefit of being more stable and make it easier to make the cuts square.

[Ben Davis]

I would scribe all of the long grain faces though just to add one additional precaution against tearout even though the other board(s) are there for support. It only takes a couple of seconds anyway.

[Sam Yerardi]

Speaking of scribing dovetails, I have always disliked the score mark that is usually left on after using the marking gauge. I've done it and I've seen it on a surprising amount of joinery. Anymore I usually try to avoid cutting deeply so I can remove the mark. I was reading one of Franklin Gottshall's books the other night and he said the same thing. He said he always laid out the bottom of the tails (across the board) with a very sharp pencil. I've always wondered if it is just tradition? I'm sure someone will have the answer. It's just always bugged me.

[James Mittlefehldt]

I suspect that back in the day the same debate was held. I have seen antique furniture with and without a visible scribe line. Perhaps when they used to train apprentices they would insist they do a deep scribe line to insure they had a demarcation place for the chisel when cleaning out the waste.

Personally I kinda like them for some strange reason.

[Alan Turner]

Scribed pins suggest handcut dovetails, and so I leave them. Also, of course, they are important for aligning the chisel for the baseline cuts, so serve a valid purpose other than just showing off.

[Jim Maxwell]

During my apprenticeship (1956-62), the older tradesmen always tried for very small pins, it was almost a signature for a good tradesman. I was taught to always use a cutting gauge, rather than a marking gauge as the cutting gauge left a finer line, where as a single tooth gauge tended to tear the grain. Then there was also the issue of drawers with sloping fronts where the end of the sides were scribed to the required angle. Here the gauge was very handy for marking the depth of the pins.
The sides were stacked and cut at the same time, then the pins were marked with a marking knife, creating a tiny groove to follow. But then it was all done with hand saws and chisels. I still have and use a 1/16" bevel edge chisel used for cutting the space for the pins.
Jim